Review: B&W DM-602 s2 Speaker


Category: Speakers

These are great speakers for the money. And they look good too. Very good bass for the size, even on stands. I wanted a bit more so I acquired an M&K MX100 sub (2x10"s).

I use them for music, however, these are speakers that can always find a place somewhere; upgrade to a lower end home theator set up, handed down to a child, given to a parent, etc..

My system is admittedly low end and patched together, but for the money I have into it, it sounds great. Recordings of course have a big impact.

I listen to Rock & Jazz, some blues; Clapton unplugged, Ella Fitzgerald - Gershwin songbook, Sinatra, Nora Jones.

Plan to constantly upgrade, but Audiogon provides a great vehicle for putting together a used system far better than something acquired new at Best Buy, Circuit City, etc..

Associated gear
Used Harmon-Kardon HK3470 - $188
Used M&K MX100 Sub - $425
RCA 5 disc CD
Used JPS Labs Ultraconducter bi-wires $300
Audioquest Phython jumpers
Audioquest Corals (for CD player)
Audioquest Sidewinders for sub
concordjohn
I bought the 602's from DMoffitt. I love them, I have had them about a year now, running of Integra. It's all very entry level, but at the time, I was about to run out and just a get a bose system. Needless to say I knew nothing about home audio and am happy that DMoffitt saved me.

At the time I thought HT was everything and I bought a Grand Vega at the same time. I love movies, but the more speakers I listen to, the more I realize that I am missing a lot in music.

So in about a year, I am upgrading, but they were a great start, and hopefully I can sell them to someone else that will like them and come to enjoy home audio.
i sold my 602 ser.1's that i had for like 7 years when i bought my CDM1-NTs. i LOVE those speakers, they were what got me into hi-fi i the first place, i was wowed that for the same price as some monsterous Cerwin Vegas from Sears or whatever, I could have clean, detailed highs, impressive bass, all in a small, sexy package (although they ARE huge for monitors).

anyway, i found that i had outgrown them sonically, but the friend i sold them to LOVES them for his HT / music hybrid setup. the thing that amazed me the most is how little power it took to get quality sound (a 30W rotel 2ch amp was all i needed) but how much they reward you when used w/ better cables and more amplification.

an ABSOLUTE best-buy for entry level systems, some complain they are too 'bright' but frankly, it's a B&W trait, some call it bright, some, detailed. i am actually slowly moving away from B&W toward Totem Acoustic for that reason, but that's because i'm starting to prefer musicality / feeling over acuracy / detail.
I still have my 602s, and even though I have moved onto another speaker I still think they are excellent speakers for the money. I would definately reccommend them to anyone looking for a budget speaker,even though I was less enthusiastic about their performance with rock music.And perhaps they are maybe an all around solution, especially since I have read that many people here have been impressed with their performance with all kinds of music, including rock. In any case, they do seem revealing of recording quality, that can be an acquired taste.